Target Shooter 1

NATO involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen a resurgence
in 7.62mm use including the low level sniper role by
American forces, originally carried out with resurrected M21
sniper rifles or scoped M14s as seen here, more recently the
M110 ‘SASS’ rifle. (Courtesy of US Army image archives.)
to Swiss company RUAG Ammotec for this year’s
supply finally providing competitors in the UK’s
most prestigious TR event with ammunition of a
quality long taken for granted in Europe and the
USA. These cartridges are loaded with the original
155gn Sierra Palma MK (#2155) a mere quartercentury
after its introduction. The downside is of
course much increased cost, as you get what you
pay for.
Recent Developments
The difference between .308 and 7.62mm bullet
diameters has reduced, so recently built TR, and
commercially produced tactical and sniper rifles
have barrel specs that are only a little on the ‘tight’
side or use standard .308 dimensions. Measuring
a sample 155gn bullet pulled from a ‘Bisley Match’
round produced a diameter precisely on 0.308”
compared to 0.3077” for older 145gn bullets, and
0.3082-0.3083” for Lapua and Sierra match
examples. Note too that while still heavily ‘gunged’
with sealant, it lacks a crimp-groove, and has a
much longer bearing surface than the older type.
Modern tactical rifles such as the Sako TRG
and Accuracy International police and civilian
models shoot very well with good .308W ammunition
despite having ‘military’ chambers – one former
Accuracy AE owner who did very well it did tell
me however that it was important to fireform
cases for the long chamber then ensure the resizing
operation retained close headspace. American
CLR (conventional prone long-range) shooters
looked at our TR, liked what they saw and adopted
it as ‘Fullbore Rifle’. In the USA, Fullbore and Palma
are invariably shot using handloads and are run
under two sets of ammunition rules at the
organiser’s discretion – ‘International’ which
sees bullet weight restricted to ‘less than 156gn’,
72 Target Shooter
or unrestricted. F/TR is
restricted to .223R and .308W
but places no restrictions on
bullet weights in the UK or USA
(unlike British Commonwealth
countries where the ‘less than
156gn’ rule applies), so there is
an ongoing debate about the ideal
bullet for 1,000yd F/TR matches
– an important subject as having
the optimal combination makes
a difference to the cartridge’s
performance at this range,
especially on the small F-Class
target in difficult conditions.
(Keeping shots in the four-ring or
higher needs 18” or less dispersion
at this range, in practice 13” for a
rifle that groups into a half-MOA.)
Resurgent
One cannot look at the cartridge without
noting its rebirth as a military tool. With NATO’s
blanket adoption of the improved 5.56mm during
the 1980s, there were strong pressures from military
bureaucrats to withdraw 7.62mm weapons, sniper
rifles aside, in the cause of standardisation and
‘logistics’. However, the guys who actually put their
lives on the line had a less than flattering view of
the 5.56’s longer-range capabilities, especially the
British ‘squaddie’ saddled with the unreliable L86A1
‘LSW’ light machinegun version of the SA80 rifle.
While 5.56 performed well – in obtaining hits and
its terminal effectiveness – in short-range jungle
wars, serious questions about its performance
arose in the Balkans, even more so Iraq and
Afghanistan where fighting ranges are much
increased.
The result has been retention, in fact much
increased use, of 7.62mm ‘general-purpose’
MGs such as the US M60 and UK L7A1 ‘Gimpy’
alongside the newer 5.56mm FN ‘Minimi’ gun.
Moreover, the Americans became concerned about
the inability of the average GI or Marine to neutralise
opponents with the 5.56mm M16 at any range
above 300 metres resulting in the adoption of a new
rifle – the Knights Armaments SR25 based M110
7.62mm semi-auto sniper rifle firing M118LR 175g
bullet cartridges – issued to considerable
numbers of selected and specially trained rifle-squad
‘marksmen’ who can hit targets at 500-600m
as a supplement to the small numbers of highly
specialised two-man scout / sniper teams. So the
7.62’s role and likely future have seen a huge
turnaround in western armies, the outlook moving
from poor to assured.
Next month – brass and bullets.